First, I want to apologize for how all over this place this post is about to get. Our AC went out yesterday and I ended up not going to bed until 11:30 after I watched Danny deal with that and then pumped and got bottles ready. THEN, my sweet baby has decided to wake up between 3-4a the last 2 nights. Here I am at 6:30 and I'm already 30 minutes into my day.
Now to the goods, which is how breastfeeding it going.
(If you're new here, I posted about how bad things were HERE and then how things got a little itty bit better and I just decided to let Tucker be the boss of it all HERE)
I mentioned before that I was going to give nursing a try until 3 months and if I had seem some improvement then I would give it until 4 to have it down. If he didn't have it figured out by then, I was going to switch to exclusively pumping and see how far that took me. Well, it was a good thing I waited until the 3-4 month mark because it has been smooth sailing since the end of March!
How did we get to this point: After almost a month of letting Tucker do his thing and trying when he seemed like he wanted to nurse, we got it down. That's really my only "trick." I guess the other trick would be when we would attempt to nurse. Since I work full-time, I only had evenings and weekends. For a few weeks we would just nurse in the evenings before his bedtime bottle, then occasionally on the weekend. I didn't want to rely on nursing before bed during February and March because I had a busy time at work during those months. Once I felt like he had grasped the concept of nursing, I let him nurse at bedtime. And he continued to sleep through the night. That is when I knew we had had a breakthrough. When him and I are together, he just nurses. I've given him maybe 3 bottles in the last month and that's just because we were out and about and he was hungry. Even then if we're in between stores or stops, I'll nurse him in the car. This mama won't be whippin the boob out in the middle of the grocery store or restaurant. I have no beef with any woman who does, but I just won't be.
Here's my message to my future self when there is a baby #2 (or #3): Have patience. Don't be so hard on yourself. Let that baby do his/her thing.
I have learned sooooo freakin' much during the last 5 months. The one thing that sticks out is every situation is different. I've realized that before about almost everything. I don't see things black and white. I can almost always see the grey area. Life would be a lot easier if I did see black and white and I probably wouldn't go
People keep asking me how long I'm going to breastfeed. I don't know. I can't imagine trying so hard to get it figured out for 4 months, then stop 2 months later when he turns 6 months. I can't decide if I want to let him self-wean or wean him myself at some point. I'm sure I'll decide one thing and then he'll be all "I'm the boss mom" and completely switch it up on me. Or he'll get teeth and as soon as he bites I'll be waving my white flag. So, my answer to that question is, I have no idea. I don't know when I'll know or if I will know. He might just wake up one day and decide he's over it. I could do the same thing.
I told you this post would be a hot mess :)
and that is the best attitude to have when it comes to nursing! I had no idea where I was going with my first kiddo and the idea of nursing, but I set out to try. I worked fulltime and pumped at work, but like you whenever we were together it was the boob. It worked for us (psst...he selfweaned at 13months) Your attitude about 'what will be will be' is truly the best thing mentally you can do for this relationship (nursing)...because we don't need to bring guilt or stress into the mix.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
April @ OverExtendedApril